Pectin, a
dietary fiber, is a
polysaccharide that is widely used in food industry as a gelling agent. In addition,
prebiotic and beneficial immunomodulatory effects of
pectin have been demonstrated, leading to increased importance as food supplement. However, as cases of
anaphylactic reactions after consumption of
pectin-supplemented foods have been reported, the present study aims to evaluate the
allergy risk of
pectin. This is of particular importance since most of the
pectin used in the food industry is extracted from citrus or apple pomace. Both contain several
allergens such as non-specific
lipid transfer
proteins (nsLTPs), known to induce severe
allergic reactions, which could impair the use of
pectins in nsLTP allergic patients. Therefore, the present study for the first time was performed to analyze residual nsLTP content in two commercial
pectins using different detection methods. Results showed the analytical sensitivity was diminished by the
pectin structure. Finally, spiking of
pectin with allergenic peach nsLTP Pru p 3 led to the conclusion that the potential residual
allergen content in both
pectins is below the threshold to induce
anaphylactic reactions in nsLTP-allergic patients. This data suggests that consumption of the investigated commercial
pectin products provides no risk for inducing severe reactions in nsLTP-allergic patients.